(Times of Israel) The Israeli Air Force allegedly carried out an airstrike on a building next to Iran’s embassy in Syria on Monday, reportedly killing at least six people including a top Iranian commander.
The strike in the Damascus-area municipality of Mezzeh hit a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy, footage showed.
Iran’s SSN news website said the targeted building was Iran’s consulate and ambassador’s residence.
A Reuters report said the consulate was “flattened,” in what it said was “a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies.”
Iran’s Tasnim news agency cited sources who indicated that at least six people were killed in the strike. It said the number was not yet officially confirmed.
Among those killed in the strike was senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official Mohammad Reza Zahedi, according to security sources speaking to Reuters and media reports in Iran.
Zahedi has been reported to be a top commander in IRGC’s Quds Force — responsible for the unit’s operations in Syria and Lebanon, and thus the most senior commander of Iranian forces in Syria and Lebanon.
Tasnim reported that Zahedi’s deputy was also killed in the strike.
Reuters quoted Iran’s ambassador in Syria warning that Iran’s response to the strike would be harsh.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, meanwhile, said in a call with his Syrian counterpart that Tehran holds Israel responsible for the consequences of the attack on its consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, Iran’s state media reported.
The strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus is “a breach of all international conventions,” Amirabdollahian added.
Footage from the scene showed that the targeted building had been destroyed in the strike. Next to the rubble, an Iranian flag was seen flying over the Iranian embassy.
Syria’s state-run SANA broadcaster claimed air defense systems had engaged the alleged Israeli attack, downing some of the missiles.
SANA said rescue authorities were working to extract dead and wounded people from under the rubble.
